1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner-fixer apparatus used in a wet electronic photograph printer using developing solution including liquid toner and carrier liquid, and in particular, the present invention relates to a toner-fixer apparatus and an electronic photograph having the toner-fixer apparatus provided therein for fixing an image onto a sheet on a sheet-transferring path by blowing hot air thereonto.
2. Description of the Related Art
In some image-forming systems using a developing solution including liquid toner (hereinafter called simply toner) and carrier liquid, a web absorbs the carrier liquid when a toner image transferred onto an intermediate-transfer component is further transferred onto the web. In a case of forming a multi-color image by passing the web through a lot of units each having the intermediate-transfer components, the web absorbs a significant quantity of carrier liquid based on the number of colors (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Accordingly, a means for drying the web, removing the significant quantity of carrier liquid from the web, and fixing the toner thereon, is necessary.
A thermal roller method is a commonly known technique for drying the web, removing the carrier liquid absorbed in the web, and fixing the toner thereon. However, the thermal roller method has limits in time and temperature when making contact between the rolls and a printed surface. A non-contact hot-air-fixer apparatus conceived in view of this situation is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 2. In this configuration, an image-fixing apparatus formed to extend along a web-feeding path facilitates extension of time for making contact with hot air and the web. Also, increasing the temperature of the hot air readily increases the temperature of hot air making contact with the web.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2007-11142    Patent document 2: Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application, First Publication No. H02-51353
However, the aforementioned non-contact hot-air-fixer apparatus has the following problems.    (a) The aforementioned non-contact hot-air-fixer apparatus is configured to discharge hot air from many through-holes provided on a plate-shaped heater component to make the hot air contact with the web. However, air passage capability in the through-holes formed in the vicinity of the central part of hot-air-blown region (that is, the region where the heater components are arranged in line) is reduced when the contact area between the web and the hot air is expanded and the length of the apparatus is extended for extending time for making contact between the web and the hot air. Such incapability for circulating the hot air reduces thermal efficiency and causes contamination to be produced based on unevapolated components remaining in the toner absorbed in the web.    (b) Increased temperature of the hot air for improving image-fixing capability or residual heat provide wrinkle or slack on the web, thereby affecting the feed movement of the web.    (c) Extending the image-fixing apparatus in length based on the number of colors inevitably causes upsizing of the apparatus, thereby raising a problem associated with an installation space.